French Cheesecake

This French Cheesecake is my favorite Secret Weapon Dessert. Easy to make. Easy on the eyes. Practically guaranteed to stun everyone—including your best friend’s chatty new girlfriend—at your dinner party into blissful, dessert-nibbling silence.

This recipe comes from an old family friend. In fact, a bunch of you requested the recipe when I first posted about it. French cheesecakes are typically lighter and fluffier than regular cheesecakes. (What’s that, Mouse?!? It’s less dense? So that means I can eat…more…of it?)

This cheesecake has a crisp, buttery crust. The filling is smooth, tangy, and creamy.

Get yourself a springform pan

You really need a springform to make a proper cheesecake.

A springform pan is made of two pieces: a flat bottom and a tall ring that serves as the sides of the pan. The clip on the side opens up, widening the ring, so that you can remove your cheesecake easily and in one piece. (After all, it’s nice to be able to admire it for a moment or two before you devour it.)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Butter your springform pan or spray it with oil, then set it aside.

Make the dough for the cheesecake crust

Leave the butter on the counter for 10 or 15 minutes to soften up a little. Then put the butter and flour into the bowl of your mixer.

Beat on high for a few minutes to combine the butter and flour. At first, the mixture will be dry and raggy looking, like this:

Beat the mixture until it’s smoother and more uniform, like this:

Toss in the sugar and the egg yolk.

Beat to combine. Your mixture will be soft and yellow-ish, like good, fresh Play-Doh.

Gather the dough together in your hands. Press it together into a smooth, flat puck shape.

With a bencher or sharp knife, cut one third out of the dough.

Gather each hunk of dough into a ball. Set the larger ball (the one with two-thirds of the dough) aside for now.

Bake the bottom crust of the cheesecake

Take the smaller ball (the one with one-third of the dough) and press it into the bottom of your springform pan. (That’s right…no rolling! Just smoosh it down with your fingers.)

Keep pressing and spreading the dough until it completely covers the bottom of the pan.

You want it to look about like this. Nevermind that you may have some visible fingerprints. Just be sure that the coverage is fairly even, so it bakes consistently.

Pop the pan into your preheated 400 degree oven and bake for 8 minutes, until the crust is brown on the edges, like this:

Set it aside to cool while you make the cheesecake filling. Give the bowl of your mixer a quick wash, as you’ll need it clean to make the filling.

DROP THE OVEN TEMPERATURE TO 350 DEGREES. (Sorry to shout, but your cheesecake will be very sad if you bake it at a full 400 degrees…)

Start the cheesecake filling

Separate 4 eggs. Keep the yolks and the whites. You’ll need ’em both.

Put the sugar and cream cheese into the (washed and dried) bowl of your mixer.

Beat them together until smooth.

Scrape down the sides of your bowl.

Toss in the egg yolks.

Beat together until smooth, creamy, and glossy.

Add the sour cream, heavy cream, and vanilla.

Beat until well combined.

Scrape the mixture out into a large, clean mixing bowl. Quickly wash and dry the mixing bowl that you used for the filling. (Last time, I promise.)

Set the mixture aside for a minute while you finish up your crust.

Finish the cheesecake crust

At this point, your pan should be cool enough to touch comfortably. Grab your remaining ball of dough. Break off a chunk.

You’re going to stick the dough to the pan the same way that you did with the bottom crust. Take the chunk of dough and smoosh it against the side of the pan. Press it with your fingers so that it’s flat and spreads out.

Repeat this process with the rest of the dough, until the sides of the pan are completely covered. Leave about a half an inch or so between the crust and the top of the pan, like this:

Go around the dough one more time, concentrating on where it meets the bottom crust. Be sure that the seal here is good, and that there aren’t any holes. (That way, your cheesecake filling will be completely contained when you pour it in.)

Set the pan aside while you finish your filling.

Finish the cheesecake filling

Put the egg whites into the (washed and dried) bowl of your mixer. Beat on high for a few minutes, until the egg whites fluff up, turn opaque, and hold a stiff peak like this:

Take a scoop of the beaten egg whites and plop it into the cream cheese filling.

With a spatula, fold the mixture to gently incorporate the egg whites into the cream cheese.

Add the rest of the egg whites to the bowl.

Fold again to combine. (You’re gently folding, instead of vigorously stirring, so that you don’t completely deflate the egg whites. They’re what will help give your cheesecake its poof.)

When the egg whites are completely incorporated, the mixture will be light, fluffy, and look kind of…well…a little fizzy.

Pour the finished cheesecake filling into your prepared pan.

Pop the cheesecake into your preheated oven (be sure that you dropped the heat to 350 after baking the bottom crust).

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. The cheesecake is done when it has a nice brown top and feels firm in the center when pressed with a finger. (Even when it feels firm, the cheesecake will be ever-so-slightly jiggly when you take it out of the oven. That’s just fine.)

(Mmmm, cheesecake.)

Set the cheesecake to cool on the counter, away from any drafts.

The bit about keeping it out of drafts is important. As it cools, the surface of your cheesecake will crack a little. If it’s exposed to a draft, those cracks will be bigger.

The surface will also sink down, like this:

As you can see, mine still got a fairly impressive crack down the center. That’s just fine.

Unmold the cheesecake, serve, and enjoy!

When it’s totally cool, remove the outer ring of your springform pan. (Pop the clip open, gently spread the ring open, and slide it up and off.)

Your crust should be golden brown, like this:

Slice and serve!

I whipped up a little orange-raspberry sauce.

I’ll post the recipe for that up on Monday.

Enjoy!

Related

Jessie Cross is a cookbook author and creator of The Hungry Mouse, a monster online food blog w/500+ recipes. When she's not shopping for cheese or baking pies, Jessie works as an advertising copywriter in Boston. She lives in Salem, Massachusetts with her husband and two small, fluffy wolves.

Cheesecake is my absolute favorite thing to make, and it always astounds me that most people think it's difficult to do! There are so many variations on this classic...the best one I've made was a vanilla-almond cheesecake with gingersnap crust and port-cranberry sauce. It was a huge hit at Christmas dinner :)

Love the photos; even a novice should be able to follow. I'd like to make this in a 9-inch - or even a 10-inch pan instead as I have to host cooking club (12 people!) in two weeks. I could just make two of yours but I don't have an 8-inch springform pan at all and can't get one locally. (Rural area.)

Thanks so much, Vicki!
You should be OK on the dough with a slightly larger pan. You may need to knock off a few minutes from the baking time, since your cheesecake won't be quite as deep. Just keep an eye on it toward the end of baking.
Good luck with it! Let me know how it goes!
+Jessie

I haven't made cheesecake with eggs for a while because of all the vegetarians I've been feeding. I usually make an egg-free no bake cheesecake but I think I just changed my mind and going to make your recipe tomorrow. It looks soooo tempting!
Check my version at http://www.phamfatale.com/id_93/title_Egg-Free-No-Bake-Berry-Good-Cheesecake/

I would like to know where and when do you add the TBL of flour to the filling in the chhesecake recipe. I have made it witout it and it was the best cheesecake ever.....however since you have the flour listed on the recipe ...I would like to knoe it it was an error ...typeo?
Thanks for the fantastic recipe!
Ann

Hi, awsome recepie.... i tryed the filling but i was in a rush so i bought a allready made crust and i think it worked just as well ( never the less, home made is all ways the best way to go) as i was coming home i thought of mangos so i made a quik stop and bough some delicios ready to eat mangose at my local market ..... heres how i made this mango cheesecake happen.... i follow the filling recepie jus as you explain but when i was pooring it in to my crust i slices some really thing pices of mango and instead of one layer of filling i made two, and i hada mango stuff cheese cake i finish it up with some ore of my left over mngo and a noce mango glace and mint leaves.............
now im getting ready to try a savory cheesecake cense flavored cream chees is abailable.... ill let you know what that gose.. thank you once againg ur recepie is quite the touch...

I have been looking for a specific cheesecake that my french grand-ma use to make. Well my search has ended and I found the Best recipy ever. YOURS. I made one yesterday and it is already gone. My family had some and I had most of it:) Shame on me.... Thank you for posting this recipy. Keep on the good work.

I just finished making your cheesecake and, although I completely forgot to add the sour cream, heavy cream, and vanilla until after I had mixed in the egg whites (oops), it turned out absolutely delicious. There is definitely enough crust for a 9" pan, which is what I used. My family is currently trying to convince me to drop my music major and go to culinary school instead. Yay!

I made this a while back and have been meaning to let you know that this is the best cheesecake in the world!! I'm not the best at baking but your pictures really do help out. I couldn't believe that I actually made something that was so delicious. I will definetly make it again especially when I want to show off.

Hi there,
the pictures are really useful, thanks for the delicious recipe, it's all so tempting.. I'll try it as soon as possible...
I have one question though, what do you mean by (lb.cheese cream) ? How much in gramms it is?
Thanks again..
You have me hooked as well..

I have your cheesecake cooling on the counter, the smell is killing me. By the way, you never addressed the 1 tablespoon flour issue. I added it to the filling. Guess I'll find out if that was right in a few hours.
Thanks.

I figured the conversion for a 10-inch pan if anyone was looking for it. There are some changes to amounts. The directions stay the same.
Crust:
300 mL of flour (1 1/4 c)
150 mL of butter (just under 2/3 c)
1 egg (it comes out to 1 1/4 egg but it'll be the same)
3T, 1 1/2t sugar (or 7 1/2t)
Filling:
20 oz cream cheese
3 3/4t flour
150 mL sugar
5 eggs
5T sour cream
5T heavy cream
1 1/4 T vanilla
** 9 inches could be the same as the original or my way which would be a lot thick which would have a longer baking time. (which I do not recommend)

To eliminate the huge crack in your cheesecake, put a rimmed pan in the oven under the rack with the cheesecake and fill it with a cup of water. When the cheesecake is done, prop open the oven door with a wooden spoon or two oven mitts and let it cool in the oven for an hour or two. Then take it out of the oven and let it cool more. My mom taught me this when she made all the cheesecakes for my wedding. (:

hey, i am currently baking this cheesecake that you showed.. and is it necicary to add heavy whipping cream? i am only in 8th grade and i had to make this for French class.. I didnt add the whipping cream.... /:

Hi,
I made this cheesecake for my mom's birthday and OMG was it good! I got a million compliments and now I want to try something different. I was wondering if I could use this filling in a chocolate graham crumb crust instead of the cookie crust. Would the filling hold up in the graham crust, or would it ruin it?

Hi,
I love this recipe and made this cheesecake for my mother's birthday and it turned out awesome! I was wondering though, what would happen if I used chocolate and or graham cracker crumbs as the crust. Would the filling hold up to this type of a crust, or would it bleed through it? Would I have to cook the crust first or just form the graham crumbs around and pour the filling? Help!

I have wanted to know how to cook French-style cheesecake ever since I tried some at a French market, so I am very pleased to come across this recipe. I think the photos are great for less experienced cooks. I have one in the oven right now and it's smelling lovely! (may I be nit-picking and point out a spelling mistake? It is 'draughts', not 'drafts'!)

I just came across this website and fell in love this is the first recipe I am trying, it is actrually in the oven now so fingers crossed it will turn out nice becuase I am bringin this to a friends house....also I didn\t see the directions aswell for the flour in the filling... looks great in the pictures though I am hopeful!!

They used to make this type of cheese cake at Publix supermarkets, but now that they don't anymore, I have been looking for the recipe. I will definitely try this, I miss it so much! Thanks for posting!